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Nickerson Street Rechannelization Before and After Report
Nickerson Street Rechannelization
In August, 2010, the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) reconfigured the travel lanes on Nickerson Street from 13
th
Avenue West to Florentia Street. The goal of this project was to improve pedestrian safety by reducing exposure to multiple lanes of traffic and increasing driver compliance with the speed limit. Prior to rechannelization there were two travel lanes in each direction. The street was reconfigured to one lane in each direction with a two-way left turn lane in the center. Two new marked crosswalks were installed. As part of the rechannelization, SDOT agreed to monitor vehicle traffic and speeds over the following year. Speed data is reported for both 85
th
percentile and top-end speeders. The 85
th
percentile speed is the
speed at which 85 percent of vehicles are traveling at or below, and it is considered the route’s operating
speed. Top-end speeding is the percent of drivers traveling more than 10 miles per hour over the posted speed limit, which on Nickerson Street is 30 miles per hour. These top-end speeders pose some of the greatest threat to pedestrians. A pedestrian hit at 30 miles per hour has approximately 55 percent chance of survival. At 40 miles per hour the chance of survival is only 15 percent.
Project Goals: Improve pedestrian safety Add marked crosswalks Reduce exposure to multiple threat collisions Increase driver compliance with the posted speed limit Reduce speed Project Outcomes Add two marked crosswalks Collision reduction in the first year Significant speed reduction
Nickerson Street Before: Nickerson Street After:
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Nickerson Street Rechannelization Before and After Report
Speed
Speed data was recorded between 6th Avenue W and 3
rd
Avenue W in June, 2007. Prior to the project, the 85th-percentile speeds in both directions exceeded the speed limit: 40.6 mph westbound and 44.0 mph eastbound. Approximately 90 percent of drivers exceeded the speed limit. Speed data was collected at the same location after rechannelization in February, 2011. The 85
th
percentile declined to 33.1 mph westbound and 33.3 eastbound. After rechannelization, the percent of speeders declined by two-thirds and the percent of drivers exceeding the speed limit by 10 or more miles per hour dropped by more than 90 percent.
85
th
Percentile Speed between 3
rd
Avenue W and 6
th
Avenue W
Speed in miles per hour
Before After Change
Westbound
40.6 33.1
Eastbound
44.0 33.3 Speeders
Percent driving over the speed limit
Before After Change
Westbound
88% 32%
Eastbound
91% 34% Top End Speeders
Percent 10+ mph over the speed limit
Before After Change
Westbound
17% 1.4%
Eastbound
38% 1.5%
-64% -63%
-64% -63% -92% -96% -18% -24%
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Nickerson Street Rechannelization Before and After Report
Collisions
The primary motivation of the rechannelization was to allow changes that improve pedestrian safety. After the rechannelization was completed, SDOT installed two new marked crosswalks at Dravus Street and 11
th
Avenue W. In addition, preliminary collision statistics show a substantial reduction in collisions after the project was completed.
Change in Number of Collisions on Nickerson from 13th Ave W to N Florentia St after Rechannelization
5-Year Average One Year Post-Project Percent Change
10-18-2004 to 10-18-2009 10-18-2010 to 10-18-2011
33.6 26 Volume
In 2009 prior to rechannelization there were approximately 18,500 vehicles per weekday between 3
rd
Avenue W and 6
th
Avenue W. After rechannelization this number remained roughly the same with 18,300 vehicles recorded in August, 2011 at the same location.
Nickerson Traffic Volume
Before After Change
AM Peak
816 733 -10%
PM Peak
915 927 +1%
Average Weekday
18,563 18,364 -1%
-23%